ST JOHNSTONE manager Steve Lomas braved sub-zero temperatures yesterday to officially launch the 2012 salmon season on the River Tay.

The former Manchester City, West Ham and Northern Ireland midfielder admitted he dabbled with fishing on the River Bann growing up in Coleraine.

But he admitted his fly casting skills were non-existent.

But that didn’t stop the charismatic Perth manager landing kudos, if not the King of Fish, on the Tay at Hilton Dunkeld House Hotel.

Symbolic

The ceremony, organised by the Dunkeld and Birnam Tourist and Angling Associations, supported by the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board and Perthshire Chamber of Commerce, marked the start of the 2012 season.

Lomas was led to the riverbank by pipers before being invited to bless the boat with a Dalmore Tay Dram and make the symbolic first cast.

With the thermometer showing five below and frost gripping the boat, the Northern Irishman joked: “The football club chairman didn’t tell me this was part of the contract!”

He cautioned around 100 anglers, ghillies, MP Peter Wishart, MSP Murdo Fraser, and Perth Rotarians: “You’d better stand back or I could take someone’s eye out!

“I was more into spinning and bait fishing as a kid than fly casting. But it is something I always fancied learning and hopefully we can get the Saints players up here along with some instructors.”

Tweeds abounded on the riverbank but William Jack, chairman of the TDSFB, seized the opportunity to dismiss salmon fishing’s image as a rich man’s pastime.

He stressed: “The perception that it is a sport for toffs couldn’t be further from the truth.

“So on the opening of the new season the Tay Board would like to take the opportunity to counteract the widely held misconception that salmon angling is the preserve of the wealthy.

“For example in February there are currently over 3000 rod days available on the Tay.

“Half of these cost £30 pounds or less and 95 per cent less than £60. Often this will include assistance from a ghillie with a boat.

“In addition there is a great amount of water owned or managed by clubs and associations, offering easy access for around £150 for the entire season.

“Obviously many prices increase as the season progresses but there is still a wealth of good-value fishing available to all.”

He recalled that 12 months before just one fish was landed to capture the Redford Trophy, awarded for the biggest spring salmon caught and safely released on the main river. But conditions were much more favourable this time round.

Mr Jack welcomed news that 95% of salmon caught on the Tay were now returned to the water under the catch and release scheme.

Perthshire Chamber of Commerce welcomed over 120 guests to its first business breakfast of the year.

It ran in conjunction with Hilton Dunkeld House, Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board and the Dunkeld and Birnam Tourist Association.

Simon Furniss, Tay Liaison Committee member and fishing manager of Dunkeld Fishings at Hilton Dunkeld House, the ghillies, Chamber members and local community ‘well wishers’ took part in the ceremony.

Stephen Leckie, Chamber president, said: “I was delighted to see so many people gathered to celebrate this jewel in Perthshire’s crown – a major contributor to the local economy.

“Perthshire is one of the country’s premier fishing locations and the River Tay is famous across the world.

“The area’s fishing industry supplies important domestic and international markets for some of Scotland’s highest quality food products.

“Fishing is also a key tourist attraction for visitors from across the UK and overseas and this helps support Perthshire’s economy and jobs, particularly in remote and fragile areas that may otherwise struggle to survive in today’s tough climate.”